Pneumatic vote-counting machine



6Sheets-Sheet 1,

(No Model.)

J. MQTAMMANY.

PNEUMATIC VOTE COUNTING MAGHINE. No. 550,054.

Patented Nov. 19, 1895,

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A'N DREW i! GRAHAM, Puum-Lmm VIASKINGTONQ c (No Model.) 6 sheetssheet 2. I

J. MQTAMMANY. PNEUMATIC VOTE COUNTING MACHINE.

No. 559,054. Patented Nov. 19, 1895. V a 5 AN DREW B.GRAHAM, PHOTO-limo WA5H INUTOND (Iv (No Model.) 6 SheetsSheet 3.

J. MOTAMMANY. PNEUMATIC VOTE COUNTING MACHINE. No. 560,054. Patented Nov. 19, 1895.

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' e Sheets-SheetA. J. MQTAMMANY. PNEUMATIG VOTE COUNTING MACHINE. 1 N0. 550,054.

Patented Nov. 19, 1895.

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Patented Nov. 19, 1895.

J. MQTAMMANY. PNEUMATIC VOTE COUNTING MACHINE.

III I I l l l n l x AN DREW BLRAHAM PHOTO-mm WASHI NGTOHJHL (No Model.)

\A/ITNEEEEEII UNITED STATES PATENT OFFICE.

JOHN MOTAMHANY, OF SPENCER, MASSACHUSETTS.

PNEUMATIC VOTE-COUNTING MACHINE.

SPECIFICATION forming part of Letters Patent No. 550,054, dated November 19, 1895.

Application filed February 11, 1895. Serial No. 537,985. (No model.)

To an whom it may concern:

Be it known that 1, JOHN MOTAMMANY, of Spencer, in the county of lVorcester and State of Massachusetts, have invented certain new and useful Improvements in Counting and Registering Apparatus, of which the following is a specification.

This invention has for its object to provide a pncumatically-operated machine for counting and registering perforations made in a strip of paper, and particularly when said perforations are made in a tally-sheet and represent votes cast at an'election; and it consists in the improvements which I will now proceed to describe and claim.

Of the accompanying drawings, forming a part of this specification, Figure 1 represents a top plan view of a counting and registering apparatus embodying my invention. Fig. 2 represents a side elevation of the same, a part of the casing being removed. Fig. 3 represents a section on line 3 3 of Fig. 1. Fig. t represents a section on line 4 4t of Fig. 3. Fig. Fig. 5 represents a detail view. Fig. 6 represents a section on line 6 6 of Fig. 1. Fig. 7 represents a section on line 7 7 of Fig. 6. Fig. 8 represents a section on line 8 S of Fig. 3. Fig. 9 represents a view of the tally-sheet.

The same letters and numerals of reference indicate the same parts in all the figures.

In the drawings, a represents a channelboard having a series of windways or channels a, corresponding in number to the number of columns or rows of perforations in the tally-sheet. Said sheet is moved progressively across the channel-board and acts as a valve to close the windways, excepting when its perforations register with said ways, each perforation permitting a current of air to move down the windway with which it registers. 1) represents a wind-chest, which communicates with all of the windways a, each windway having an opening or vent a Figs. 3 and 4., connecting it with the wind-chest. The wind chest is connected by conductors c, Fig. 4:, with an air-exhausting apparatus comprising a flexible or bellows-like reservoir (Z, which receives air from the wind-chest through the conductors c and two bellowsshaped chambers d (1 which are operated to alternately exhaust air from the reservoir (1 by a shaft 0, having two oppositely-arranged cranks 6 6 connected by links e c with the chambersd (1 said shaft having an operating-crank e at the exterior of the machine. (See dotted lines in Fig. 2.) The reservoir (Z and bellows-like chambers 61 (Z serve as a primary pneumatic motor to operate the series of secondary pneumatic motors hereinafter described.

Each windway c communicates with a pneumatically operated register operating mechanism comprising a bellows-like chamber f, adapted to be collapsed by the withdrawal of air therefrom, and a connection such as a rod f, bell-crank lever f dog f and ratchet f between the movable side of said chamber and a suitable counting-register, the arrangement being such that whenever air is admitted to a windway a by a perforation in the tally-sheet, the corresponding chamber f will be moved and will impart movement to the register, the said chamber f and the connection between it and the register constituting a secondary pneumatic motor for operating the register. Said secondary motor may be of any suitable construction, my invention not being limited to the construction illustrated. Each second ary motor is preferably connected in directly with the wind-chest through the agency of a pneumatic controlling device adapted to be operated by a light pressure of air and to open a valve g, controlling the passage h, which connects the secondary motor with the wind-chest. The said pneumatic controlling device comprises a flexible diaphragm g, ex tending across a chamber g communicating with the windway a, a disk 9 secured to said diaphragm and resting on the outer side thereof, and a stem g secured to said disk and supporting the valve g. WVhen the windway a is closed, the pneumatic controllingdevice is in the position shown in Figs. 3 and 4, the valve being closed; but when said windway is opened by a perforation in the tallysheet, a greater volume of air enters the windway than can escape to the wind-chest through the vent a the surplus air entering the chamber g and raising the said controlling device, thus opening the valve g. This opens communication between the wind-chest and the secondary motor, so that the primary motor exhausts air from the chamber f of the secondary motor and causes it to operate the accompanying register. By the employment of the pneumatic controlling device adapted to be operated by a comparatively light-air pressure, and serving to open communication between the primary and secondary motor, I am enabled to operate the register positively and forcibly.

The register here shown comprises a screwthreaded shaft 2 journaled in bearings in the frame of the machine, and provided with the ratchet f above described, anut z", engaged with said shaft and provided with a pointer i and a fixed graduated plate i over which said pointer is moved by the step-by-step rotation of the shaft caused by the pneumati- Cally-operated mechanism above described. The shaft is prevented from backward rotation by means of a ratchet i and pawl 6 A disk i is affixed to the shaft and is marked on its periphery with numerals showing the number of votes registered by a single rotation of the shaft. A fixed pointer t cooperates with the disk 1' said pointer and disk, in connection with the scale-plate t and progressively-moving pointer 4?, showing at any time the exact number of votes registered, the plate i and pointer t registering accurately any number which is a multiple of twenty-five, or any other number which is registered by a complete rotation of the shaft, while the disk 1' and pointer 1' register accurately any number of votes up to twenty-five.

The nut i is constructed in two separable sections 3 4;, yieldingl y heldlagainst the shaft by springs 0 6, interposed between. the lower section and collars on rods 5 5, affixed to the upper section and passing loosely through holes in the lower section. The upper section has a handle by which it may be raised to disengage it from the shaft and permit it to be moved freely along the same, the lower section having no screw-thread, so that it readily slides on the threat of the shaft. The pointer can therefore be quickly returned to its starting-point after the operation of the register has been completed.

The tally-sheet has a series of parallel spaces extending lengthwise of the sheet, and said spaces are divided into series, there being one series of spaces for each office and as many spaces in each series as there are candidates for the office. For example, in the example shown there are eight series of spaces, one marked rOVGlllOiT, another Lieutenai'it-Governor, and'so on through the entire ticket, each series having five spaces marked, respectively, Republican, Democratic, Prohibition Populist, and Labor. Said sheet is used with a vot in g-inachine organized to perforate the sheet, each voter making a perforation opposite the name of the candidate of his choice in each series, the result being the formation of rows of perforations in the spaces, the sheet being moved progressively after being punched by each voter, so that each. space has a number i of holes representing the number of votes for the candidate represented by that space.

The sheet on removal from the voting-machine is wound upon a receiving-rollj, which is journaled in bearings in a fram ej mounted on the machine, and the outer end of the sheet is carried over to a receiving-roll], also journaled in bearings on said frame, the rolls being located at opposite sides of the channelboard, so that the intervening portion of the sheet crosses and bears closely on the top of the channel-board. The framej is provided with a rod or fulcrum which is adapted to turn and to move endwise in suitable fixed bearings, the frame being thus adapted to tilt or oscillate crosswise of the channel-board and to move back and forth endwise thereof. The object of the tilting movement of the carriage is to enable one roller to be connected with an operating-shaft below it, and the other roller at the same time disconnected from another operatingshaft,in order that the tally-sheet may be moved in either direction over the channel-board, the particular object being to enable the sheet to be moved in one direction to count and register the votes, and then moved in the opposite direction to verify the count before removing it from the machine. Said shafts, which are indicated by the letters 7; 7a in Fig. 2, are rotated simultaneously in opposite directions by suitable connections with the pneumatically-operating crank-shaft c, and are provided, respectively, with pinions k 76, adapted to mesh with gearsj' j aifxed to the rolls. hen the frame is tipped to the position shown in Figs. 2 and 3, the roll 7" is engaged with the shaft 7t and is rotated thereby in the direction indicated by the arrow in said figure, the roll j being loose. hen the frame is tipped in the opposite direction the roll j is engaged with the shaft 7,: and is rotated thereby in the opposite direction, the roll j being loose. Hence by changing the position of the frame, as described, the motion of the sheet may be reversed.

The connections between the crank-shaft e and the rolloperating shafts k 70" comprise a pinion m,l ig. 2, on the crank-shaft, a gear m, meshing with said pinion and having a pulley connected by a belt on with a pulley m on the shaft 7t, and a gear m meshing with the gear m and having a pulley connected by a belt m with a pulley m on the shaft 7.".

The channel-board has as many windways a as there are offices represented on the ticket, and for each windway there is a register-operating secondary motor and an accompanying register, so that, there bein eight offices represented on the ticket, there will be eight windways in the channel-board and eight registers.

The windways are spaced. so that \vlienthe sheet is in operative position and is movin g over the channel-board, the rows of holes in the sheet representing the votes for one party will coincide with the windways, the frame j and the tallysheet being adjustable laterally, so that the votes for the candidates of each party may be brought into position to coincide with the windways until all the votes have been counted. For example, if the Republican votes are to be counted first, the carriage is adjusted to bring the row of holes representing the votes for Governor over the first windway, the row representing the votes for Lieutenant-Governor over the second windway, and so on through the entire ticket, the row representing the votes for each Republican candidate being in line with the appropriate wind-way. The crank-shaft is then rotated and operates the pneumatic motors and one of the tally-sheetsupporting rolls.

The movement of the sheet across the channel-board causes each row of holes to actuate the corresponding register through the intervening pneumatic devices, so that at the end of the movement the registers indicate the total number of votes for each Republican candidate. The frame j is then tilted to reverse the feed movement of the sheet, and then if is is desired to verify the count the sheet may be moved back across the channelboard in the opposite direction without adjustin g the frame and sheet laterally; or, if a recount is not desired, the carriage and sheet will be then adjusted laterally to bring the rows of holes representing the Democratic votes into line with the windways and the sheet moved over the channel-board in a dircction opposite to that of its preceding movement, this movement counting and registering all the Democratic votes. In this way all the votes are counted and registered by parties, the registers being reset after each operation.

The provision of means for reversing the movement of the sheet after each operation enables the different counts to follow each other in rapid succession, the result being the same whether the sheet is moved in one direction or the other. The provision of means for adjusting the sheet laterally on the channel-board after each count enables one registcr to indicate the number of votes for all the candidates for a given office, so that only as many registers are required as there are offices named on the ticket. lVithout the lateral adjustment of the sheet, it would be necessary to provide a separate register for each candidate, so that the machine would be very much more complicated, bulky, and expensive. IVith the ticket here shown, eight offices being named, only eight registers are required, while without the lateral adjustment of the sheet the number of registers would necessarily be the number of offices named, multiplied by the number of candidates for each oflice, which, would be forty in the present case.

It is obvious that the machine may be enlarged or extended by providing a separate register for each party, and I do not desire,

therefore, to limit myself to the provision of means for laterally adjusting the tally-sheet.

The tally-sheet and its supporting-frame 7' may be adjusted laterally by means of an adjusting-screw 3' working in the frame j and bearing on one end of the channel-board, as shown in Fig. 1.

I prefer to divide the windways in the channel-board into two rows, each occupying a different lateral position on the sheet-supporting surface of the board, as shown in Fig. 8, so that all the windways cannot receive air at the same time. This arrangement prevents the possibility of more air being admitted at once to the Wind-chest than the exhausting apparatus can properly remove.

I claim 1. In a pneumatic counting or registering apparatus, the combination of a series of counting registers, a channel-board having a series of wind-ways, tally-sheet supports laterally movable to adjust the sheet over the-channel-board to cause different longitudinal divisions of the sheet to co-operate successively with the wind-ways, means for feeding the tally-sheet with provisions for the lateral adjustment of the latter, and pneumatic register-operating mechanism rendered operative by air admitted through said wind-ways.

2. In a pneumatic counting or registering apparatus, the combination with atally-shect perforated in transverse rows, and suitable supports and feeding mechanism for said sheet, of a channel-board or sheet-support provided with a series of windways corresponding in number with the perforations of one complete transverse row of those in the tally-sheet, and staggered or arranged in rows with the members of the rows out of alignment whereby the admission of air to all the windways simultaneously is prevented, substantially as and for the purpose set forth.

3. In a counting and registering apparatus, the combination of a series of counting registers, a channel-board or sheet-support having a series of wind-ways, tally-sheet feeding mechanism arranged to move a tally-sheet over the channel-board, said mechanism including a tilting frame having sheet-supporting rolls and two operating shafts rotated in opposite directions and each adapted to be engaged with and disconnected from one of said rolls by a movement of said frame, whereby the feed movement of the sheet may be reversed, and pneumatic register operat= ing mechanism controlled by air admitted through the Wind-ways.

4. The combination of a series of counting registers, a series of secondary pneumatic motors engaged therewith, a primary pneumatic motor normally disconnected from the secondary motors, a channel board having a series of wind-ways provided with pneumaticallycontrolled means for connecting the primary motor with the secondary motors, a sheetfeeding mechanism including a tilting frame IIO having sheet-supporting rolls arranged at opposite sides of the channel-board, said rolls being provided with gears, two intermediate shafts each having a pinion arranged to be engaged with one of the rolls by a movement of the frame, and a driving'shaft connected by means substantially as described with the primary motor and with the intermediate shafts, whereby the said motor and intermediate shafts are simultaneously operated, the said shafts being rotated in opposite directions so that the sheet may be moved in either direction.

5. The combination of a series of counting registers, pneumatic means for operating the same, a channel-board having a series of windways communicating with the said pneumatic means, a sh'eet-feeding mechanism including a movable frame having sheet-supporting rolls arranged at opposite sides of the channel-board, said rolls being provided with gears, two shafts each having a pinion ar: ranged to be engaged with one of the rolls by a movement of the frame, and means for rotating said shafts simultaneously in opposite directions, whereby the sheet may be moved in either direction.

6. The combination of a series of counting registers, pneumatic means for operating the same, a channel-board having a series of windways communicating with the said pneumatic means, a sheet-feeding mechanism including a movable frame having sheet-supporting rolls arranged at opposite sides of the channel-board, said rolls being provided with gears, two intermediate shafts each having a pinion arranged to be engaged with one of the rolls by a movement of the frame, and a driving-shaft connected by means substantially as described with the primary motor and with the intermediate shafts, whereby the said motor and intermediate shafts are simultaneously operated,the said shafts being rotated in opposite directions so that the sheet may be moved in either direction.

In testimony whereof I have signed my name to this specification, in the presence of two subscribing witnesses, this 8th day of Feb ruary, A. D. 1895.

JOHN MOTAMMANY.

Vitnesses:

A. D. HARRISON, RoLLIN ABELL. 

